Works of grant allen, p.928
Works of Grant Allen, page 928
Return through Hall XIII. and the Long Corridor into Hall XVIII., which contains objects in glass and in the precious metals, including chaplets, necklaces, etc. In the cases are collections of heavy old Roman and Latin copper money.
The next door to the left gives access to Hall XXI., containing life-sized sarcophagi for burial, and smaller sarcophagi for containing ashes after cremation. In most of these the deceased reclines, half raised, on the lid of the sarcophagus, many of the portraits exhibiting well the able and vigorous Etruscan features. The dead are represented on their tombs as if at a banquet, and often hold in their hands dishes or drinking-vessels. Round the wall are decorations imitated from tombs. In the centre, under curtains (which draw), is a *fine coloured terra-cotta tomb of Larthia Seiantia, from the cemetery of Clusium, now Chiusi. In this example the dress, jewelry, cushions, and other accessories are highly characteristic. The figure represents an Etruscan lady, in her habit as she lived, in the second century B.C. For the subjects on the sarcophagi, the reader must be referred to Dennis’s “Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.”
Hall XXII. contains sepulchral monuments of the latest and most civilised period, with subjects taken from Greek mythology sculptured on the sides. These are in most cases indicated on the labels. (Compare those in the Uffizi.) Among the finest are No. 7, the Calydonian Boar; 11, the Death of Oemomaus; 17, etc. Beneath these are fine tombs with figures holding tazzas and bearing traces of colour. Near the middle of the room, *beautiful alabaster monument from Corneto, with Combat of Greeks and Gauls, exquisitely rendered. All the tombs in this room deserve close inspection. In the centre, under curtains, *splendid sarcophagus, with painted figures of a Combat of Greeks and Amazons. This is one of the finest remaining specimens of ancient painting, but is said by Dennis to be the work of a Greek artist. It comes, however, from Corneto, and is of local alabaster: the colours in parts are most fresh and vivid. Notice, near the window, several urns in which the deceased are represented as sleeping, not feasting, — this alternative conception belonging as a rule to a later date and almost leading up to the Christian idea. On the wall to the right are several duplicate representations of the same scenes, which deserve close comparison. The most frequent subject is Polynices and Eteocles.
If this rapid survey of the Etruscan Museum has interested you in the history and art of the ancestral Florentines and Tuscans, pursue the subject further by reading Dennis’s “Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.” A personal visit to one or two of the Etruscan tombs will, however, teach you more than much reading. The most accessible of these is the Tomb of the Volumnii, between Perugia and Assisi. It can be easily visited in the course of a drive from one of these towns to the other. The town walls and other remains of Volterra (Volaterræ) and Populonia are in some ways more important but less easy of access. From Rome the extremely interesting cemetery of Corneto (the ancient Tarquinii) can be easily visited. It contains a number of highly instructive painted grottoes. Good Etruscan collections exist at Cortona, Perugia, and above all in the Vatican.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE RESIDUUM.
And what a residuum! I have mentioned above what seem to me on the whole the most important objects in Florence for a visitor whose time is limited to see; but I do not by any means intend to imply that the list is exhaustive. On the contrary, I have not yet alluded to two groups of objects of the highest interest, which ought, on purely æsthetic grounds, to rank in the first order among the sights of Florence — the Medici Tombs, by Michael Angelo, in the New Sacristy at San Lorenzo; and the famous Frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel, by Masolino, Masaccio, and Filippino Lippi. For I believe it is best for the tourist to delay visiting them till he has assimilated the objects already described; and I hasten now to fill up the deficiency.
A visit should be undertaken to San Lorenzo and the Medici Tombs together. Go first to the church, and afterward to the Sacristy.
Set out by the Cathedral and the Via Cavour. Turn to the left, by the Medici (Riccardi) Palace, down the Via Gori. Diagonally opposite it, in the little Piazza, is the church of San Lorenzo, the façade unfinished. Recollect that this is the Medici church, close to the Medici palace, and that it is dedicated to the Medici saint, Lorenzo or Lawrence, patron of the Magnificent. In origin, this is one of the oldest churches in Florence (founded 390, consecrated by St. Ambrose 393); but it was burned down in 1423, and reërected by Lorenzo the elder after designs by Brunelleschi. In form, it is a basilica with flat-covered nave and vaulted aisles, ended by a transept. Note the architrave over the columns, supporting the arches. The inner façade is by Michael Angelo.
DONATELLO. — BUST OF ST. LAWRENCE.
Walk straight up the nave to the two pulpits, to right and left, by Donatello and his pupils. The right pulpit has reliefs representing Christ in Hades, Resurrection, Ascension; at the back, St. Luke between the Buffeting and the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence. The left pulpit has a Crucifixion and Deposition; at the back, St. John, between the Scourging and the Agony in the Garden; at the ends, an Entombment, Christ before Pilate, Christ before Caiaphas. In the right transept is an altar with a fine *marble tabernacle by Desiderio da Settignano. Near the steps of the choir is the plain tomb of Cosimo Pater Patriæ.
In the left transept a door leads to the old Sacristy, by Brunelleschi: note its fine architecture and proportions. Everything in it refers either to St. Lawrence or to the Medici family. Above the left door are statues of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence (buried in the same grave), with their symbols, by Donatello. Above the right door stand statues of the Medici Patrons, Cosimo and Damian, with their symbols, also by Donatello. On the left wall is a beautiful terra-cotta bust of St. Lawrence by the same; above it, coloured relief of Cosimo Pater Patriæ. On the ceiling, in the arches, are the Four Evangelists with their Beasts; on the spandrels, scenes from the Life of John the Baptist, Patron of Florence, all in stucco, by Donatello; round the room, a pretty frieze of cherubs. Among the interesting pictures, notice, on the entrance wall, St. Lawrence enthroned between his brother deacons, St. Stephen (with the stones) and St. Vincent (with the fetters), an inferior work of the School of Perugino. Several others refer to the same saints. On the bronze doors (by Donatello) are saints in pairs, too numerous to specify, but now easily identifiable; on the left door, top, observe St. Stephen and St. Lawrence. In the little room to which this door gives access is a fountain by Verrocchio, with the Medici balls; also, a modern relief of the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence. In the centre of the Sacristy itself, as you return, hidden by a table, is the marble monument of Giovanni de’ Medici and his wife, the parents of Cosimo Pater Patriæ, by Donatello. To the left of the entrance is the monument of Piero de’ Medici, son of Cosimo and father of Lorenzo, with his brother Giovanni, by Verrocchio.
Return to the church. On your right, in the left transept, as you emerge, is an *Annunciation by Filippo Lippi, with characteristic angels. In the left aisle is a large and ugly fresco of the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, by Bronzino, who uses it mainly as an excuse for some more of his very unpleasant nudes, wholly unsuited to a sacred building. Near it is a *singing-loft by Donatello and his pupils, recalling the architectural portion of his singing-loft in the Opera del Duomo. The church contains many other interesting pictures; among them, a Rosso, Marriage of the Virgin (second chapel on the right), and a modern altar-piece with St. Lawrence, marked by the gridiron embroidered on his vestments.
The cloisters and the adjoining library are also worth notice.
But the main object of artistic interest at San Lorenzo is, of course, the New Sacristy, with the famous Tombs of the Medici, by Michael Angelo.
To reach them, quit the church, and turn to the left into the little Piazza Madonna. (The Sacristy has been secularised, and is a national monument.) An inscription over the door tells you where to enter.
The steps to the Sacristy are to the left, unnoticeable. Mount them to the Cappella dei Principi, well proportioned, but vulgarly decorated in the usual gaudy taste of reigning families for mere preciousness of material. It was designed by Giovanni de’ Medici, and built in 1604. Granite sarcophagi contain the bodies of the grand-ducal family. The mosaics of the wall are costly and ugly.
A door to the left leads along a passage to the New Sacristy, containing the * *Medici Tombs, probably the finest work of Michael Angelo, who also designed the building. To the right is the monument of Giuliano de’ Medici, Duc de Nemours, representing him as a commander; on the sarcophagus, famous figures of *Day and * *Night, very noble pieces of sculpture. To the left is the monument of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, represented in profound thought; on the sarcophagus, figures of *Evening and * *Dawn, equally beautiful. There is nothing, however, to explain in these splendid (unfinished) works, which I therefore leave to your own consideration. The other monuments which were to have filled the Sacristy were never executed.
MICHAEL ANGELO. — DAWN (DETAIL OF MONUMENT OF LORENZO DE’ MEDICI).
It is generally admitted that close inspection of the frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel in the Carmelite church (Carmine) on the other side of the Arno, is indispensable to a right comprehension of the origin and development of Renaissance painting. Here first the Giottesque gives way to nascent realism. If possible, read up the admirable account in Layard’s Kugler before you go, and after you come back. Also, read in Mrs. Jameson the story of Petronilla, under St. Peter. These brief notes are only meant to be consulted on the spot, in front of the pictures.
Cross the Ponte Santa Trinità to Santa Maria del Carmine — the church of Filippo Lippi’s monastery. It was burnt down in 1771, and entirely rebuilt, so that most of it need not detain you. But the Brancacci Chapel in the right transept survived, with its famous frescoes. These were painted about 1423 and following years by Masolino and his pupil Masaccio, and completed in 1484 by Filippino Lippi. The earlier works mark time for the Renaissance. Many of the scenes contain several distinct episodes combined into one picture.
By the right pillar, above, is a Masolino, Adam and Eve in Paradise; first beginnings of the naturalistic nude; somewhat stiff and unidealised, but by no means without dawning grace and beauty. By the left pillar, above, is a Masaccio, Adam and Eve driven from Eden; far finer treatment of the nude; better modelled and more beautiful. By the left pillar, below, — I have my reasons for this eccentric order, — is a Filippino Lippi, St. Paul visits St. Peter in prison. On the right pillar, below, is a Lippi again, an angel delivers St. Peter from prison.
On the right wall, above, in a picture by Masolino, St. Peter restores Tabitha to life (or, much more probably, the Cure of Petronilla, St. Peter’s invalid daughter — a curious and repulsive legend, for which see Mrs. Jameson); and, still in the same picture, on the left, is the Healing of the Cripple at the Beautiful Gate. Masolino can be readily detected by the long and slender proportions of his figures, by his treatment of drapery, and often (even for the merest novice) by his peculiar capes and head-dresses. On the right wall, below, is a Lippi, the Martyrdom of St. Peter, also in two scenes; to the left are St. Peter and St. Paul before the Roman tribunal; to the right is the Crucifixion of St. Peter.
MASACCIO. — HEAD OF CHRIST (DETAIL OF TRIBUTE MONEY).
On the left wall, above, is a Masaccio, subject, the Tribute Money, in three successive scenes; in the centre, the tax-gatherer demands the tax of Christ, who sends Peter to obtain it; on the left, Peter catches the fish with the “penny” in its mouth; on the right he gives it to the tax-gatherer. Notice the everyday Florentine costume of the latter, as contrasted with the flowing robes of Christ and the Apostles, borrowed from earlier Giottesque precedent (though, of course, with immense improvement in the treatment), and handed on later to Filippino Lippi, Fra Bartolommeo, and Raphael. On the left wall, below, are frescoes partly by Masaccio, partly by Filippino Lippi (Layard and Eastlake), with a double subject; in the centre and to the left, Simon Magus challenges the Apostles to raise a dead youth to life; they accept; Simon tries, and fails; St. Peter and St. Paul succeed; from the Golden Legend: then, to the right, is the Homage paid to Peter, as in the Landini of the Uffizi. The five figures nearly in the centre, and the ten figures about the kneeling naked boy are attributed to Filippino; the rest, to Masaccio. Try to recognise their different hands in them.
On the left side of the altar wall, above, is a Masolino, the Preaching of St. Peter; below, a Masaccio, the Shadow of Peter (accompanied by John) curing the sick and deformed. On the right side, above, is a fresco by Masaccio of St. Peter Baptising (famous nude, an epoch in art), below, a Masaccio, St. Peter and St. John distributing alms; at their feet, probably, the dead body of Ananias.
Thoroughly to understand these frescoes, you should previously have seen Masolino’s work at Castiglione d’Olona (best visited from Varese). But, in any case, if you compare Masolino’s part in these paintings with previous Giottesque art, you will recognise the distinct advance in composition and figure-painting which he made on his predecessors; and if you then look at his far greater scholar, Masaccio, especially in the subject of the Tribute Money, you will observe how much progress that original genius made in anatomy, drawing, modelling, conception of the nude, realistic presentment, treatment of drapery, and feeling for landscape. Read all this subject up in Layard’s Kugler, the same evening, and then come again next day to revisit and reconsider.
The Sacristy contains a series of frescoes from the life of St. Cecilia, closely coinciding in subject with those in the Uffizi, but with a few more scenes added. I think they need no further elucidation. They have been attributed to Agnolo Gaddi or to Spinello Aretino.
In the cloister (approached by a door from the right aisle) you will find a ruined fresco by Masaccio of the Consecration of this Church; and a Madonna and Saints by Giovanni da Milano.
In order fully to understand Andrea del Sarto, and to know what height can be reached by fresco, you must go to the Annunziata.
The Church of the Santissima Annunziata, in the Piazza called after it, was originally founded in 1250, at the period when the cult of the Blessed Virgin was rapidly growing in depth and intensity throughout all Christendom. As it stands, however, it is mainly of the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. Over the central door of the three in the portico is a mosaic by Davide Ghirlandajo, with the appropriate subject of the Annunciation. The church belonged to an adjacent Servite monastery, to which the door on the left gives access.
The central door leads to an atrium, after the early fashion, with a loggia doubtless intended to represent that in which the Annunciation took place, as seen in all early pictures. It is covered with frescoes, whose unsymmetrical modern glazed arrangement sadly obscures their original order. To the left of the main entrance, facing you as you enter, is the Nativity, with the Madonna adoring the Child, by Baldovinetti, 1460. This is ruined, for it was painted on a dry wall, and has crumbled away. On the right is the arrival of the Magi, by Andrea del Sarto, a very fine work, but with less refined colour than is usual with that master. The loggia to the right has frescoes of the History of the Virgin (patroness of the church) by Andrea del Sarto and his pupils. The series begins on the inner angle, next to the Arrival of the Magi. The first is the * *Birth of the Virgin, by Andrea del Sarto, 1514; a noble work, with all the conventional features retained, St. Anne in bed, the basin, etc. The second should be the Presentation in the Temple, but was never painted. The third, the Marriage of the Virgin, by Franciabigio, 1513, is sadly damaged, but has figures recalling the motives in the Fra Angelico. The angry suitor, rejected by Perugino and Raphael, here raises his hand to strike the Joseph, as in earlier treatments. The fourth is the Visitation, by Pontormo, 1516, with the principal figures arranged as in Mariotto Albertinelli, but with no arch in the background, its place being taken by a scallop-shell niche of Renaissance architecture. The fifth, the Assumption of Our Lady, by Rosso Fiorentino, 1517, is inferior in colour and execution to the others.
The series to the left, which also begins near the inner doorway, represents incidents in the life of San Filippo Benizzi, the great saint of the Servites. In the first *San Filippo is converted, divests himself of his worldly goods and clothing, and assumes the habit of the order; compare with similar episodes in the Life of St. Francis. This is by Cosimo Rosselli; less harsh than is his wont, and with a fine treatment of the nude. In the second, by Andrea del Sarto, *San Filippo, going to Viterbo, divides his cloak with a leper, whom he cures; the Servite robes (really black, but treated as blue) lend themselves admirably to the painter’s graceful colouring. In the second, gamblers who insult San Filippo are struck by lightning; this is by Andrea. In the fourth, *a woman possessed of a devil is exorcised by San Filippo; this also by Andrea. In the fifth, by the same, *a dead child is resuscitated on touching the saint’s bier. This is a late instance of the dead and living figure being represented simultaneously in the same picture. In the sixth, children are healed of diseases by kissing his robes or relics; again by Andrea, but less pleasing in colour.
The interior of the church, with its double series of intercommunicating chapels, has been so entirely modernised and covered with gewgaws as to be uninteresting. To the left, as you enter, is the vulgarised Chapel of the Vergine Annunziata, covered with a baldacchino erected in 1448, from a design by Michelozzo, and full of ugly late silver-work. It contains, behind the altar, a miraculous thirteenth century picture of the Madonna. The last chapel but one on the left has a good Assumption of the Madonna in a mandorla, by Perugino: below are the Apostles, looking upward: the one in the centre is probably St. Thomas, but there is no Sacra Cintola. The angels are noteworthy. There is another Perugino, Madonna and Saints, in one of the Choir Chapels.
